Prostate cancer: an update.

As noted at the beginning, a discussion of prostate cancer yields as many questions as answers. Yet, as this review has suggested, major advances in our understanding of the nature and treatment of prostate cancer have been made in recent years. As more unified and rational approaches to treatment emerge, some of the marked diversity in attitudes toward prostate cancer may lessen, and the controversies about management that characterize our present state of knowledge may abate. Carefully designed studies involving larger numbers of accurately staged and stratified patients are necessary to determine preferred treatment approaches for a disease that has such a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of so many.